Page 43 of It Happened in Vegas

She got quiet, perusing the dessert menu, so I didn’t want to probe further.

“Hey, Soph…” I got her attention and waited until the beautiful brown-eyed woman locked eyes with me. Then Istretched my arm across the table and laced my fingers with hers, like I didn’t get enough of touching her every chance I could. “Tonight was pretty amazing.”

She nodded. A slow smile spreading across her face. “If this was an actual date, it’d be the best one I’ve ever had.”

Just stab me in the heart now. My brow furrowed. “Seemed pretty real to me.”

She tilted her head. “You know what I mean. You asked me to be your fake date to the wedding…”

I licked my lips and took my time to respond. “Maybe at the start, this was all intended to be one way. Would it be such a bad thing if it changed to another way?”

“As in?”

“As in, tonight really counts. Nothing fake about it.”

“Keaton.” Her pretty little mouth formed softly around my name. “I had a great time tonight. If it was real, then it was the best ever.”

“I know I wasn’t faking a thing, Soph. Were you?”

She opened her mouth to respond, but the server arrived. “Here you are. Coffees, roll, cream. Need anything else, folks?” She set everything down. I thanked her, and she left.

“Mm, sogood,” Sophie moaned at her first bite, and used her word for anything that made her insanely happy with the cheap cinnamon roll piled high with icing. Her moans didn’t stop until the entire roll was gone. Each bite of her lips wrapped around the fork spoke right to my cock. “Little diners like this make the best food, and this coffee hits the spot.”

I enjoyed hearing that. I didn’t see Sophie as the money-grabbing woman who demanded the finer things in life. With Hops, I made good money over the years. Through smart budgeting and investments, I’d saved as much as I could, building an impressive nest egg for my age. With a nationwide distribution deal, my income would skyrocket, and myinvestments could rise into the millions. I could treat her to nice things more often.

What the hell was I thinking? My goal tonight consisted of getting her to forget the pillow wall, not anything permanent.

“Sometime if you’re ever in New York City, I’ll take you to my favorite hole in the wall for pie. It’s almost as good as Flora’s,” she said, savoring her last bite.

See? She also knew there could be an end to us soon.

A return to our lives before we met.

What even was my life before her? Before she invaded my office at Hops, my hometown, my every thought, and my life. I wouldn’t be able to work at my brewery without thinking of her.

I failed to understand why men would pass her up, treat her badly, or not show her a good time. Their loss, my gain, unless there’s something big I haven’t uncovered about her yet.

“Tell me about some of these horrible dates you’ve been on,” I press.

“You don’t want to hear about those.” She added more cream to her cup.

“I do. You heard about Starla and Cassandra. Those are my stories. Share two of yours with me.”

She scoffed and shook her head. “Okay. Fine. Two truths and a lie.”

“This again? Considering I won the last time, lay it on me.”

She nodded. “Number one. When I was a senior in high school, I was on a date with a college student I’d met, only to find the guy actually intended to kidnap me and demand ransom from my family.”

I smirked. “You made it way too easy. I already think that’s the lie.”

“Number two. My date had to stop for cash on the way, but ended up being overdrawn, so I had to pay for the date.Surprisingly, that has happened on about fifty percent of the dates I’ve been on.”

“Hm. Big red flags there, huh? I can assure you neither of those have I ever done on a date. And number three?”

“One date was a definite no for me, only he turned into a stalker and continued to follow me everywhere for a year, to where I had to have a bodyguard.”

I jerked back. “Soph? That’s terrible. Now I’m stumped. I’d like to think oneandthree are lies.”

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